Companies put record amount in shareholders' pockets

Companies paid out a record amount of money in dividends to shareholders in the first quarter of 2024 as Alibaba and Meta made the their first-ever payments, a report said Thursday.

Asset manager Janus Henderson tracks dividend payments by 1,200 of the largest publicly traded companies in the world and found that together they paid a record $339.2 billion in dividends in the January through March period.

That represents an increase of 2.4 percent from the same period in 2023.

The first quarter "saw broad strength across the different sectors, with most making steady, single-digit progress," said the report.

Janus Henderson said the banking sector drove the growth with a 12 percent gain, accounting for a quarter of the overall increase.

The first ever dividend payments by Alibaba ($2.6 billion) and Meta ($1.1 billion) accounted for half of the first quarter growth.

The report noted that the dividend payment accounted for just 20 percent of the profits that Meta returned to shareholders via stock buybacks.

The transport sector was an outlier, registering a large drop, in particular due to a large dividend cut by Maersk as the Danish shipping company's profits plunged last year as it was forced to avoid the vital Red Sea trade route due to attacks by Yemeni rebels.

By regions, the United States set an all-time quarterly record while Canada and Sweden broke first quarter records.

"Investors have enjoyed a strong start to 2024, with share prices rising globally and dividend growth sustaining the strong underlying momentum it reached towards the end of 2023," said Ben Lofthouse and Jane Shoemake at Janus Henderson.

They added that the second quarter has demonstrated "continued resilience" and Janus Henderson made no change to its full-year 2024 forecast for a 3.9 percent increase in dividend payments to a record $1.72 trillion.